Be grateful the Yankees, Mets weren't suckers for Bryce Harper

By Bill Madden

Mar 02, 2019 | 10:00 AM

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Now that the deed is done and Bryce Harper is officially a $330 million Phillie, it’s worth examining just what happened here, how it happened, and why it may not have near the impact it’s cracked up to be.

Given the fact Harper was coming off a comparatively “down” season for him (in which he hit just .249 with more strikeouts than hits) and most of the big spending teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs and Dodgers (at first) signaled early on they would not be in the bidding, it was problematic Harper was going to get the kind of barrier-breaking ($400 million?) deal his agent, Scott Boras, had been touting almost since the day he arrived in the big leagues with the Nationals in 2012. So for that, you have to give Boras credit for once again finding the One Dumb Owner who would essentially bid against himself to get the contract over the 10-year/$300 million plateau.

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In this case, that would be Phillies owner John Middleton, a nobody on the big league stage up until a couple of years ago when he decided to exercise his majority share-holding clout with the team and push out the longstanding senior management decision makers in Philly, Bill Giles and Dave Montgomery.

Like so many owners before him, going all the way back to George Steinbrenner, Middleton wanted to make a statement by signing one of the biggest free agents of the winter, no matter what the cost.

Bryce Harper. (Mitchell Layton / Getty Images)

Sooner or later, they all seem to do it – Hank Steinbrenner re-signing Alex Rodriguez for 10 years/$275M in 2007, Texas’ Tom Hicks with the first A-Rod deal for 10 years/$252M in 2000, the Tigers’ Mike Ilitch signing Prince Fielder for nine years/$214M in 2012 then extending Miguel Cabrera for 10 years/$292M in 2014, Arte Moreno of the Angels signing Albert Pujols for 10-years/$254M in 2011, Jeffrey Loria of the Marlins signing Giancarlo Stanton to his 13-year/$325M deal in 2014.

Going all the way back to 1996, even notorious labor hawk, White Sox board chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, set a new contract record with a five-year/$55M deal for Albert Belle. While the jury is still out on Stanton, none of those contracts worked out and most were payroll stifling boondoggles, as this one with Harper most surely will be too.

It’s quite remarkable Boras was able to keep Middleton dangling, with by far the highest offer, for three weeks when essentially he had nothing else. Sure, the Giants were in for 12 years/$310M but would have had to come up at least another $50 million to compensate for the California taxes and, even if they did, there was no way Harper would have wanted to go to San Francisco, an aging team in deep decline with a ballpark that is death on left-handed hitters.

And while the Dodgers were always one of Harper’s top choices, they were not willing to go more than five years (albeit at a reported record AAV of $45M) and Boras could never have accepted that. He and Harper now maintain Philadelphia was where he wants to play, which is why there are no opt-out clauses in the contract. I suspect it was Middleton who insisted on no opt-out clauses, and that Philly is where Harper wants to play because it was the only viable place he could play for that kind of money and years.

Harper will thrive in the Phillies’ bandbox Citizens Bank Park, but there is nothing to suggest he is the savior who will lead them to the World Series Promised Land. In his seven years in Washington, the Nationals went to the postseason four times and were bounced in the first round in all of them. Harper’s best postseason was 2014 when he .294 with three homers and four RBI in four games against the Giants. In the other three, he hit .186 with two homers and six RBI in 15 games.

From Middleton’s standpoint, the contract’s last 3-4 years is essentially deferred money. He has to hope the Phillies are in the postseason for almost all of the first eight years of the contract, or else the notoriously ornery Philly fans will make life miserable or Harper. He also has to hope Harper stays relatively healthy those first eight years. (For point of reference: Manny Machado, whom the Phillies also pursued, played 156 or more games in five of his last six seasons, while Harper played less than 120 games in three of his last six.)

Finally, this notion the Yankees and Mets should have been in on Harper – the Mets just to keep him away from the Phillies and the Yankees because they’re, well, the Yankees – is utterly ridiculous. Neither team needed him – certainly not at 13 years/$330M. The Yankees are realizing how much they’re going to regret down the road taking on Stanton’s contract, while the Mets need to be spending what it takes to get Jacob deGrom signed longterm.

IT’S A MADD, MADD WORLD

There was a report last week the city of Long Beach has reached out to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim about building a new stadium for them on a 13-acre lot downtown that was once the site for the Ringling Brothers Circus. In October, the Angels opted out of their lease at Angels Stadium for a one-year extension and have made it clear they want a new stadium. Moving to Long Beach would presumably require yet another name change for the team – the Los Angeles Angels of Long Beach … After all the Mets’, Nationals’ and Phillies’ multiple off-season improvements, no one would be surprised if the defending NL East champion Braves, whose only significant off-season move was signing oft-injured Josh Donaldson for $23M, slip a couple of notches in the division. That possibility has taken on more of a reality this spring with a wave of injuries hitting the Braves’ already suspect starting rotation. No. 1 starter Mike Foltynewicz was scratched from his start Friday with elbow discomfort and No. 2 Kevin Gausman has been bothered by a sore shoulder. In addition, former top prospect Mike Soroka is dealing with a shoulder issue. Of course, no one is more delighted by these developments than Scott Boras, who up until now has had minimal interest in his top free agent pitcher Dallas Keuchel … Attention Fantasy League players: Keep an eye on Rays’ 6-4, 245-pound first base prodigy Nate Lowe, who tore through three levels of minor league ball last year, hitting 27 homers with 102 RBI. He’s not on the 40-man roster, but he’s getting everyone’s attention, especially last Wednesday when he hit a 567-foot homer – 445 feet in the air with 105 MPH exit velocity over the right center field roof and adjacent boardwalk fence of the Rays’ spring training park. He’s more than likely going to start the season at AAA, but Rays manager Kevin Cash said: “He might be ready now. We’re not. I’m not one to hold anyone back.” … All those proposals for 2020 MLB offered up the Players Association last week after withdrawing the pitch clock until 2022 – expanding the rosters to 26 players with a minimum of 13 pitchers, the three-batter minimum in an inning for relief pitchers, mandatory 28-man rosters in September? Don’t count on any of it, league sources say. “It’s just more back and forth,” said one NL Exec. “The players never agree to any of these things.”